


Stolen Feathers

by alutiv



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221A Drabble, Alternate Universe - Folklore, Folklore, Gen, Ladies of Sherlock, Swan Maidens, challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-29 00:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alutiv/pseuds/alutiv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>No one in the world calls her by her proper name. Sherlock might believe she doesn’t have a first name. He has no idea how close that is to truth. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stolen Feathers

No one in the world calls her by her proper name. Sherlock might believe she doesn’t have a first name. He has no idea how close that is to truth. Her first name, her true name, her name before she met the man called _Hudson_ , consists of sounds impossible to render with a human tongue. All these years after his death and her emancipation, she finds it simpler to use _his_ name.  
  
He was so charming, all quick wit and silver tongue. She was young and beautiful and relished her power over men. She hid her feathered coat and let him see her step naked into the water; oh, yes, she knew he was watching. When he joined her in the lake, she smiled at the gleam of lust in his eyes, not yet recognising what else she saw there.  
  
He was not a good man, but believing he loved her made it easier to stay, as if it were her choice.  
  
When she found her stolen feathers, she flew across an ocean to be with her sisters once more. He followed her. He followed them. What he did then was not love.  
  
Now and then, she slips into her feathers and glides on the moonlit Thames. In the language of swans, she cries their names, cold echoes her only answer.

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to the [Ladies of Sherlock](http://ladiesofsherlock.tumblr.com/) October 2013 Challenge.
> 
> It's a 221A ficlet, not a 221B, because it's about Mrs Hudson, of course.


End file.
